Mike gets creative

We have been lucky to have Mike home this week. Noah has been so spoiled by all the daddy time, I am afraid what next week will be like when Mike is gone. With all the free time, Mike has had some time for a few "projects." He's experimenting with facial hair, trying out a fu-man-chu look for awhile. I'm not a huge fan, I think he looks like a trucker. But we'll see what it looks like as it grows in. Another project was making Noah his own Captain America shield. Noah is big into superheroes right now. Mike painstakingly found some cardboard, traced and cut a circle, colored it with sharpies, and made duct tape handles on the back. Noah LOVES it and runs around holding it and yelling "I block you!" How lucky are Noah and Sam to have such a cool dad!

Bilirubins and Big Brothers

After the trials and tribulations of Sam's arrival and trip home, we're finally settled in. Save for the daily trips to the hospital lab and pediatrician. Sam lost quite a bit of weight (down from 6lb15oz at birth to 6lb4oz on Monday). And he's a bit jaudiced, so we've had to go get his bilirubin levels checked daily (Mike refers to them as his "harry potter" levels). So we trek back to the hospital and then to the pediatrician's office for a weigh in. So far he's been gaining weight at a steady rate and the bilirubin hasn't gotten too high, so that's good. Hopefully today will be our last trip for awhile, we'll see. Otherwise things have been going great. Noah finally decided he wanted to hold Sam yesterday and as you can see he was very excited and proud of himself. It was also amazing to closely compare all their parts. Look at how giant Noah's foot looks!

The Journey Home

The journey to get this kiddo home to Roselle was almost as difficult as it was to bring him into the world. So, as most of you know, Chicago received quite the downpour on Friday night and as a result there was major flooding. Mike had gone home Friday to get some sleep and pick up the car seat. It took him 3 HOURS to get from our house to the hospital on Saturday. He kept calling me to tell me this road was closed and that road was closed and he had to retrace his steps about 12 times. It was so frustrating! Meanwhile at the hospital we were nearly ready to go, but a doctor was supposed to come check Sam out. Well the doctor was stuck in Michigan, unbeknownst to us, and we waited until 3pm till they finally decided to let us go home. Of course getting discharged took way longer than necessary and Mike actually had to flag someone down to get a wheelchair to get me out! We opted to drive to my parents house first which was 10 min away to pick up Noah, visit some family, and see what traffic was like. We finally decided to make the trip home, which wasn't too bad thankfully. We pulled in the driveway and the garage wouldn't open. The power was out! So we had to get Noah ready for bed and enjoy our first night at home with no lights and no a/c. I was about ready to cry and Mike was about ready to punch a wall. In that very moment we looked down to see Noah hovering over Sam's carseat saying in a high voice, "It's ok Sam Dan, I'm here, I'm here!" So sweet! We survived, despite having to open windows while an outdoor concert was blaring a few blocks away. Finally the air came on at 12:30am and we were able to get some sleep. I'm sure this will all make a great story some day, but in the moment it was pretty terrible. The good news is that Noah has been the BEST big brother and Sam seems to enjoy nothing more than nursing for 1.5 hours followed by sleeping for 2-3 hours. Whew. PS, that last picture is Sam with Calvin. Yep Calvin is 10 weeks old, yet he dwarfs Sam. Pretty Awesome!

Sam Dan: The Arrival

So now that we're home and settled, I can catch up on some blogging and share some photos of Sam Dan with you all. Yes, Sam Dan, is what Noah is calling him, so we'll see if it sticks. Here's my version of his arrival. Thursday morning was pretty normal, Uncle Bob took Noah swimming and then he and I ate some lunch. When I put Noah down for his nap at 12:30pm, I noticed I had a few contractions. Nothing major or regular, and I had been having contractions on and off all week, so I wasn't too worried. I fell asleep for a bit, so I figured it was done. I had a few more, but never closer than about 10 min apart. Finally at about 2:45 I figured it was the real deal. So I called Mike at work, told him no rush but to come home. My dad was in Itasca nearby, so he came over to get Noah and Ellie. By the time Mike got home and we got on the road it was 4pm, lovely traffic time. So the contractions, of course, went from moderate pain every 7 min to more difficult pain every 2-3 minutes during the car trip. It took us an hour to get there, meanwhile I was thinking "boy, I certainly hope we have enough time for the epidural!" I was admitted at 5pm and was 7cm dialated. They tried really hard to get the required fluids in me and blood platelet check done so that I could get the epidural, but in a half hour I got to 9cm dialated. So it was decided that the epidural would do no good and that plan was abandoned. I was scared, but I didn't really have a choice. They paged the dr, not my dr, but one in the practice. She raced in and they threw scrubs on and acted like the kid was going to be flying out any moment. They nearly guaranteed that he would arrive in 1-2 pushes. Problem was, my water hadn't broken therefore Sam had not turned to the face down delivery position. So I pushed and screamed and pushed for about 30 min as his skull pushed on my tailbone. They had me turn on my side and eventually he flipped over and arrived. It was the most painful thing I've ever done, but obviously the instant it was over I felt tremendously better. Mike was a great coach. I can't even imagine what it was like for him as I clutched his arms, bit his jeans, and screamed "IT HURTS SO BAD!" Sam popped out and everyone was surprised how little he was, considering the stubbornness he showed in turning over. But he was fine, I was fine, and by 7:00 big brother Noah was visiting. I would probably not do it again that way, but it all worked out as it should! More photos of Sam's first few days to come later. Thanks to all our friends and family for their love and support!

Sam Dan

Samuel Dan is here!

Just a quick note to let you all know that Baby Boy #2 appeared yesterday. It was a bit of a rush, got to the hospital a little late and he was born sans epidural after only being in the hospital for an hour and a half. But all is well and he's safely here! Yes his name is Samuel Dan Rodriguez, he'll be going by Sam or Sammy or whatever Noah comes up with. He's 6lbs 15 oz and 20 inches, such a peanut! We're all doing great, going home tomorrow if everything goes according to plan. Big Brother came to visit briefly last night and was not all that impressed. He was more excited about getting a nametag at the front desk than a new brother! Can't seem to upload our pictures right now, but rest assured I'll try to post some tomorrow. Really right now he just looks like squishy newborn baby/old grumpy man. Thanks for all the well wishes!

Some last minute fun

Noah and I have been trying to enjoy some new/special activities before baby #2 shows up (any day now!). We took a last trip to the zoo with grandma. Thank GOODNESS grandma was there because it was soooo hot and I could barely move much less manage Noah. His favorite, as usual, were the goats. The last 2 weeks Noah has been taking swim lessons at our local pool. They're not so much lessons as they are just introductions to water. He's in a small class with younger kids (the age range advertised was 6mos-3years but it's definitely geared to smaller kids). Noah has been spoiled as he's gotten to go to class with Daddy, Grandma, Uncle Bob, Aunt Val, and today Grandpa. He LOVES the water and often goes completely under without any prompting. I stopped by today to take some photos. So now we're just waiting around for his little brother to show up!

New Sprinkler

Bamma (aka my mom) found Noah yet another fun outdoor toy, the mighty Sprinkler Ball! He loves it! We taught him how to cover up one of the spouts, then say "what happened?" and wait for daddy to put his face over it to spray him. He think's it's hysterical. He screams SO loud while playing with it. Here's a little video clip below of him playing with it...

Lake Week

Noah and I had a lovely week up at Diamond Lake. We spent Tues/Wed/Thurs enjoying the company of my high school friend, Erin. We went to a lawn concert at Notre Dame (don't worry, Erin and I refused to stand for the ND fight song), which Noah highly enjoyed and got to see Emmett conduct and Kathleen perform. He got lots of time with Bamma (my mom) and swam like a maniac in the lake. The weekend was spent with lots of family enjoying the 4th festivities. We didn't make it to the island for the annual parade on Saturday due to nap time. But that night before the fireworks, Pops took all the kids for another ride on the elephant float they had made. The parade was apparently a circus theme this year. Noah made it to the fireworks (9:30pm, not too shabby!) hence the pjs in the last 2 pics. He seemed to enjoy the fireworks although he was somewhat loopy by that time. I have some video posts to do at some point, but overall it was a lovely weekend. Oh, and I suppose I should note we had another cooking competition. It was salads (won by Aunt Jo, I did not have an entry) and desserts. I did enter desserts, with a deep fried mini Snickers bar. They turned out nicely, but I was crushed by Brad and his delicious bananas foster. Oh well, better luck next time. Now we're suburban-bound till Baby-Time!